Dr Burhan Mahmoud Al-Chalabi

20 April 2006

Q20  Sir Philip Mawer: Right. Was this in December, or November or December of that year?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Probably late 1999 because there is no point taking a flight if the Iraqis are not going to receive it.

Q21  Sir Philip Mawer: Understood.

Dr Al-Chalabi: So that was the first visit which I recall. The second visit was in March 2000 and that is we—a lot of people donated the medicine for the flight, and really what we did is, we took that medicine with a lot of other people, donors and supporters, et cetera, some of the people who I initially wanted them to take, so we took the medicine in March. I think I also went to Baghdad to attend a conference on sanctions and he was there, but at that time we had parted our ways.

Q22  Sir Philip Mawer: Do you remember when that was?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Also in 2000. It was regular. There was some big conference.

Q23  Sir Philip Mawer: Can I ask, when you were there in late 1999, whom did you meet with Mr Galloway in the course of that visit?

Dr Al-Chalabi: There were some other people with us and we did have an audience with Mr Tariq Aziz and with the people at the Foreign Office. We met people at the ministry. I met people myself at the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education.

Q24  Sir Philip Mawer: Did you meet Fawaz Zureikat at all on that occasion?

Dr Al-Chalabi: I met Mr Zureikat in Jordan during my first visit, purely on a social occasion. His sister is married to one of my best friends and I went to see my friend, met his wife, and this is where I met him, purely socially.

Q25  Sir Philip Mawer: And have you had subsequent dealings with him at all, Fawaz, that is?

Dr Al-Chalabi: I did not talk to Fawaz from April 2000 to today.

Q26  Sir Philip Mawer: Right, so that was after the second visit that you made to Iraq in March of 2000?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes, but I did know that he had a presence in Baghdad, you know, Fawaz Zureikat.

Q27  Sir Philip Mawer: Right. Have you ever had any business dealings with Fawaz?

Dr Al-Chalabi: I have not had any business dealings with Fawaz.

Q28  Mr Healey: Could I clarify one point about the visit to Baghdad in late 1999? The bus tour arrived there on 7 November 1999. Is that the same visit?

Dr Al-Chalabi: No, no.

Q29  Mr Healey: So it was a separate visit from the bus visit?

Dr Al-Chalabi: I had absolutely nothing to do with the bus. What I know about the bus is what I saw in the newspapers.

Q30  Mr Healey: So it would be after that, probably?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes.

Q31  Mr Healey: December 1999 maybe?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes.

Q32  Sir Philip Mawer: Yes.

Q33  Mr Healey: Okay. Over the Christmas period or earlier?

Dr Al-Chalabi: I do not remember. It was late. It was certainly not during the bus tour.

Q34  Sir Philip Mawer: You will know that one of the matters which emerges in the Telegraph allegations is the allegation against Mr Galloway that he met with an intelligence officer of the former Iraqi regime on Boxing Day of 1999 asking for an increase in oil allocations coming to him, and you also know, because the information is in the public domain, that it is alleged that you are named in a report of that conversation that Mr Galloway is alleged to have had and that information about you was attached subsequently to the document which was sent by the Iraqi intelligence officer to higher authority. May I ask were you present at all in Baghdad in December of 1999 around the time of that alleged conversation?

Dr Al-Chalabi: As I said, I went with him in late 1999 but, if I just may give you a bit of background information, I had not been to Iraq at the time since 1969, so—and I have a very large family. I have about ten brothers and nephews and nieces and my mother, so I spent every moment I had with my family, to the extent that I had to ask my brothers to put tags on their children because I did not know their names, so I spent all of the time with my family really because I had not seen them for such a long time. So I had not attended or been present in anything with George Galloway. I spent all of my time with my family.

Q35  Sir Philip Mawer: But you mentioned earlier that you had been at a number of meetings, one with Tariq Aziz, at which Mr Galloway was present?

Dr Al-Chalabi: That was to introduce the idea of the flight.

Q36  Sir Philip Mawer: And one with the Foreign Office?

Dr Al-Chalabi: I had the idea, you know, and I thought the Foreign Office would be the right people to ask. I learned from my family that my primary school had been closed down, dilapidated, because of this action.

Q37  Sir Philip Mawer: This is in Mosul?

Dr Al-Chalabi: In Mosul, and I wanted to rebuild the school, so I asked who shall I take the mission from. I was advised, I think, by my brothers to see the Foreign Office, so we went to see the Foreign Office and they said, "No. You have to go and see the Ministry of Education."

Q38  Sir Philip Mawer: Right, and did you go to those meetings with Mr Galloway or was it just the one with Mr Aziz?

Dr Al-Chalabi: No, I think I went myself with my brothers.

Q39  Sir Philip Mawer: Right. So just the one with Mr Aziz?

Dr Al-Chalabi: Yes. We may have been there also with the Ministry of Health; I cannot remember, because there were a lot of people there.